We often go to Willows Farm and we love it. It’s the perfect mix of being a traditional farm with a twist of fun on the side! Rides, play equipment, soft play, theatre shows and more but all done in a really old-fashioned way. There are fair ground rides but none of them are garishly playing loud music with flashing lights, they are traditional and nestled in amongst them are hand push swing boats, trampolines and bouncy castles. It’s a perfect playground for children and with plenty of lovely places to sit it’s the perfect place for parents to enjoy watching (or join in of course) in an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere.
What I absolutely adore about Willows is that it’s constantly changing and keeping up with not only the seasons (it has a make-over to invite its guests for every new weather change) but also it is constantly adding new things to make it even better. We went yesterday to celebrate the start of the summer where they traditionally have an a-maiz-ing maze to get lost in and go home with a bag of popcorn, goat racing, summer themed shows and more and, even though we only visited about 6 weeks ago, it had completely changed some of the play areas so that it was like visiting a whole new place!
Gone is the big sandpit at the top and in its place are even more picnic tables! We love the themed ones which are perfect for sheltering from the sun (or let’s face it, most of the year, rain) as they have roofs and they all have gorgeous vistas for you to enjoy the food you bring yourself if you don’t fancy eating in the restaurant. We did that yesterday to start our visit off and as we looked around we realised that the sandpit is not gone, but moved. AND! With the added benefit of water play but I’ll get on to that in a moment because it was the absolute highlight of our day yesterday!
We are well versed in the Willows day out and we know exactly what we don’t want to miss (a ride on Tristan The Tractor, milking the cow, panning for gold, bouncing on the trampolines… Well, quite a bit actually) and we know we always want to see the new things too. Yesterday we learned all about the pony called Golly and how to clean his feet in their display and as it’s the summer season we went to get lost in the maze and claim our free bag of pop corn.
We went to the animal petting station and held guinea pigs, fed the horses and wondered at the cuteness of the baby rabbits, we said hello to the goats although we somehow missed their races and we played on the assault course, zip wire, play grounds and little tractors. It was a very hot day so we gave the extensive indoor soft play a miss but this is something we adore on colder days and makes a visit year round worth while. The star of the show yesterday however was the new sand and water play area! We LOVED it!
I think we actually spent the majority of our day here and all the children were having so much fun. There’s plenty of benches (they were still bringing more in while we were there as it was the first day of opening for the area) and the most wonderful floor chairs which I HAVE to find out where they got them from! Jonny and I sat on the astro turf hill in the middle under shade and on the fab floor chairs while the children dipped and built! There’s so many things to do in there with brilliant equipment for digging, building and climbing on and the water is an added bonus – make sure you take a swimming costume and towel!
Take a look at the wonderful time we had yesterday – so much fun, thanks Willows!
Well done Willows, you’ve become even better than you already were and we were already massive fans! We will absolutely be trying to make another trip back this summer because it’s one of our favourite days out and now with the added bonus of the new sand and water area it couldn’t be better for this time of year! That’s not to say we’re not looking forward to carrot picking, the potato shin dig, pumpkins and your fabulous Christmas festivities coming up later in the year!
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